NIT 2017: Eligible Teams, Tournament Format and Schedule

The men's postseason National Invitational Tournament will take place from Tuesday, March 14 through Thursday, March 30 featuring 32 of the best teams that did not make the NCAA tournament field.

Here's a look at the schedule, the tournament format, teams eligible for the NIT and some potential teams and players to watch. Note that the latter category is unofficial as the NIT field will not be announced until Sunday, March 12.

Men's NIT Schedule

Rounds	Dates	Cities	Locations
First	Tuesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 15	Campus Sites	TBD
Second	Thursday, March 16 through Monday, March 20	Campus Sites	TBD
Quarterfinals	Tuesday, March 21 and Wednesday, March 22	Campus Sites	TBD
Semifinals	Tuesday, March 28	New York City	Madison Square Garden
Championship	Thursday, March 30	New York City	Madison Square Garden

Information via ncaa.com.

Tournament Format

The NIT is a 32-team, single-elimination tournament. The 32 teams are split into groups of eight and then seeded No. 1 through No. 8. In each quarter of the bracket, the No. 1 seed plays No. 8, No. 2 plays No. 7, No. 3 plays No. 6 and No. 4 plays No. 5. There is no re-seeding should an upset take place.

The games are played at the campus of the higher seed through the first three rounds until the tournament semifinals and championship, which are held in Madison Square Garden.

Eligible Teams

Any team that won its regular season conference title but did not win its conference tournament receives an automatic invitation to the NIT. For example, Illinois State won the Missouri Valley Conference with a 17-1 win-loss record but lost in the conference championship to Wichita State. If the Redbirds do not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, then it will receive an automatic invite to the NIT.

Once those teams join the NIT, a selection committee decides the at-large teams that will make up the rest of the tournament field. Any team is conceivably eligible for tournament play as long as it hasn't been excluded from the postseason for whatever reason (e.g. an NCAA ban), but the NIT selection committee will decide the best of the rest.

Teams and Players To Watch

The aforementioned 27-win Redbirds will likely find themselves in the NIT after a tough loss to the Shockers in the MVC title game. ISU is currently hanging on by a thread in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi's latest projections, but it's likely that they will fall from in to out as more upsets take place this week and teams receive automatic berths ahead of them.

Otherwise, the California Golden Bears will likely find themselves in the NIT after a bad two-loss road trip against Utah and Colorado. Cal nearly upset Arizona and Oregon this season but fell late to both schools. Barring a deep run in the Pac-12 tournament, it won't make the NCAA tourney field.

Sophomore big man Ivan Rabb is the big name on the Golden Bears this year. He averages 14.3 points and 10.6 boards per game and will likely be picked in the first round of the NBA draft this year should he leave school early. Right now, nbadraft.net has him going 17th.

Finally, Texas A&M could be a team to watch because of freshman big man Robert Williams, who DraftExpress projects as a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Williams averages 12 points and 8.1 boards for the 16-14 Aggies, who finished ninth in the SEC and likely need to win the conference tournament to make the NCAA field.